Love In Spite
by YukariVision
Summary: Quatre and Wufei bet on the sucess of Duo's next romantic encounter. Warning: shounen-ai. FINISHED!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters in this story. They are owned by Bandai and several other companies, none of which I am part of.

I had thought about sneaking in and taking my place at my desk before anyone knew I was there. I was going to do it, too. I could have. The guys at work teased me a lot about being sneaky. Everyone knew, of course, about the time I stole the paper weight off of Wufei's desk right under his nose. Getting past everyone would be a cinch. They probably wouldn't notice I was there until mid-morning, when Quatre usually took his coffee break.

But there was the problem. Eventually they would notice, whether they saw me come in or not – and when they did, the questions would start. Best get it over with as soon as possible. I squared my shoulders and opened the door. 

"How did it go?" a sweet, high voice asked as I was barely two steps inside the building. 

I winced. "It went," I mumbled. I tried to avoid eye contact, but I knew I wasn't fooling anybody.

"Not well, I take it," he commented. I gave up and met the eyes of the small blonde in front of me. As well as being my boss and my closest friend, Quatre had an amazing sixth sense. 

"Not well," I agreed, and sighed. "What's wrong with me, Quatre?" I asked. "I'm cute, and funny, and I have a job. So why do I have such a problem with relationships? It seems most of them end before they even start." 

"Well, you might start with that tie," a dry voice commented behind me. I didn't even have to turn to see who it was. Instead, I looked down at my tie.

"What's wrong with it?" I asked. It was my favorite tie. Mostly black with splashes of brighter colors, I only wore it when I wanted to add a little cheer to my day. The rest of the time, I was content with my monochromatic ensemble.

"Nothing," Wufei continued. "It's just like you. Tacky." 

"You are a bit much for some people," Quatre agreed. "You just haven't found the right person yet." 

"Face it, Duo. You're rude, outspoken, disrespectful, childish, and you like to play jokes on people," said Wufei.

I scowled. "This isn't still about the paper weight, is it?" 

Wufei shrugged noncommittally. "We're just trying to help you, Duo. You asked what's wrong with you. I was trying to give you an honest answer."

"I wasn't asking you," I pointed out. "I was asking the only one of the three of us who is actually in a relationship."

"Why don't we test it, hmm?" Quatre suggested, a small gleam in his eyes. "Duo, the next prospective date you meet, you can hide all of the things Wufei says are wrong with you. Just be nice to him, and rely on your cute face to do all the work for you."

I started to open my mouth, but instead of my own voice, I heard "Are you kidding, Quatre? He can't be completely nice and normal long enough to get a second date." 

"I can so," I blurted. 

"I think so too," Quatre agreed. "Wufei, I bet you twenty dollars Duo can get himself a second date just by his looks." 

The Chinese man stuck out his hand. "You're on," he agreed. "Duo will say something to screw it up before the first one is over. I guarantee it."  They shook hands firmly, two businessmen sealing a deal. I walked over to my desk and started banging my head on the computer.

"Hello," came a new voice, lower than Quatre's or Wufei's, and much quieter than mine.

I looked up sharply. Trowa didn't usually speak so early in the day.

"Morning, Trowa," Quatre said sweetly, his whole face lighting up. They never made any physical contact at work other than the occasional feather-light touch, but I could feel the love radiating between them, even from opposite ends of the room. It made my heart ache. I wanted what they had. "What's going on?" 

"An old college friend," Trowa said by way of explanation.

"Oh?" Wufei asked, interested. Wufei and Trowa had gone to the same college, and knew many of the same people. "Who is it?" 

"Heero."

Wufei's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, really? I wonder what brings him here." 

Trowa shrugged. 

"Heero?" Quatre asked excitedly. I looked at him curiously. "I can't wait to meet him, after all the stories."

"I never heard any stories," I complained.

"We've told you stories, Duo," Wufei said, amused. "Your attention span usually doesn't last beyond the first sentence." He turned to Quatre. "Let's go introduce you, shall we?"

The blonde man nodded, and the three of them started back out toward the door. Quatre stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Why don't you come too, Duo?" Quatre suggested. 

Well, shoot. I didn't want to be left out. I hurried to follow them out of the room.

                                                                                                                ***

"Heero, this is Quatre."

Heero nodded stiffly at the blonde. "I've heard a lot about you," he said. Blue eyes flickered over to me. "Who is this?" 

I was pinned to the spot, unable to speak. From the moment we came out here, I was struck by this man. Brown hair, well-formed, muscular arms, and the most piercing eyes I had ever seen. I had dated men more handsome than this Heero, but for some reason this man made more of an impression than all who had come before him.

Quatre seemed to notice my sudden loss of basic communication skills and smiled slightly. "This is another one of our coworkers. Duo Maxwell." 

The man studied me for a moment or two before bowing his head in my direction. "Nice to meet you."

                                                                                                                ***

"I think he likes you," Quatre told me when we were back in the office. 

"How could you tell?" I asked, bewildered. "He was about as eloquent as Wufei's paper weight." 

"He's quiet," Quatre corrected. "It isn't the same thing. Trowa's quiet, too. But like Trowa, I'm sure Heero can say exactly what he means to say without wasting words. It's a good skill in many situations." 

"Ah," I agreed. Now that I thought about it, I could see Quatre was right. I tend to say things I shouldn't without thinking, and I know Quatre babbles when he's flustered. It would be a good skill for both of us to learn.

"Why did we have to come in so fast?" I asked, changing the subject.

"I think the three of them wanted to catch up on their college days," Quatre explained. "It's okay. We should get to work anyway." 

"What do we have to do? Budget's not due until the end of the year, and we're already set for the meeting tomorrow. What, are you gonna buy another island?"

Quatre grinned. "Now that you mention it…" he began, and laughed when he saw the look on my face. "No, but I am paying you to be here, Duo. Do you have any ideas of some way to not be wasting your salary?" 

I looked at him sideways. "Well, I do think Winner Enterprises should expand into the video game industry." 

"And you want to write the report of projected revenue for the company to present to the board next Tuesday?" he asked sweetly.

I stuck out my tongue. "Not really," I said. "Actually, I was thinking Wufei could figure that out – you know, he's the best at numbers and all – and I could do the market research." 

Quatre pretended to think. "That's why you have the PS2 hooked up to the teleconference center, right?"

I shook my head. "Naw, that's so when you're on business trips to the Middle East, I can still kick your ass." 

My blonde friend started to say something, but turned to look at the door as it opened and Wufei and Trowa walked back in with Heero. 

"This is it," Wufei was saying. "Winner Enterprises is one of the top companies in the world right now, and we employ some of the most expert technicians from all over." 

Heero nodded. "Great. I'll fax you those papers, then."

I looked at Quatre. "College?" I mouthed. 

Quatre grinned and didn't say anything back.

"It was nice seeing you again," Wufei said, shaking Heero's hand. 

Heero nodded. "And you both," he agreed, looking between Wufei and Trowa. Then he looked past them to where Quatre and I were standing. "It was nice meeting you finally," he said to Quatre, and then looked at me, his eyes meeting mine and lingering for a moment. "I hope to see you again." 

I smiled and waved a little goodbye as he turned to leave. Wufei smirked at me behind his back and Trowa left to walk him back out of the massive office building. After they had gone, Wufei began walking toward me, his smirk growing into an amused grin. "Well, Maxwell, looks like your chance came sooner than I expected."

"What do you mean?" I asked cautiously. I didn't trust the way he was smirking at me.

Wufei flicked me a folded up piece of paper. I unfolded it and gasped as I saw what was written on it. 

"Ah!" Quatre exclaimed, grinning excitedly. "So I was right! He does like you, Duo!"

I was still gaping at the paper. On it was written, "Heero Yuy, 555-2341." 

"He wanted me to give you his phone number in case you wanted to get to know him better," Wufei told me. "He works for one of the smaller companies interested in merging with Winner Enterprises. They transferred him here to work on a deal with Quatre that would be fair on both parties. He's their best computer programmer." 

"Wow, Duo! The two of you have a lot in common already!" Quatre cheered.

I glanced at him. "Quatre.  Just because we're two of the top computer programmers in the industry doesn't mean we're anything alike."

"So, when are you going to call him?" he asked slyly. 

I bit my lip. "That depends," I began. "Wufei, how long will it take him to get home?"  


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters in this story. They are owned by Bandai and several other companies, none of which I am part of.

My finger trembled as I reached for the keys of the phone.

"Duo, the phone won't bite you." 

I glared at Wufei. "I am thinking about my approach."

"That's probably a good idea," he admitted, that smug look on his face again. "Remember last time?" 

I thought about last time. "Hi," I had said, "I think you're cute. Want to go on a date?" 

"What's wrong with that?" I asked now.

Wufei smirked. "You asked his little sister out instead." 

I shrugged. "I just thought he had a high voice."

"She was six years old!"

"Okay," I held out my hand. "Wufei, I won't say anything stupid. I remember the bet, and believe me, I *don't* you want to win, Kay?" I glared at him.

"Just make the call." 

"Fine." I took a breath and dialed the number quickly. I didn't want Wufei to see me chicken out. 

"Hello?" Heero answered on the second ring. His voice made my breath catch in my throat. 

"H-I" I squeaked, and then coughed. "I mean, Hi, Heero. This is Duo. Ah, Duo Maxwell. Remember me?" 

"Duo. I remember. Wufei gave you my message?" He was so direct. I liked that. 

"Yes. I mean, you knew he would, right? Wufei usually does what he says he'll do. Usually, I mean." I swallowed. I was babbling, but talking about Wufei seemed safer than talking about myself.

"I know." 

Okay, now what? I took a breath. The first date was never a problem for me. I avoided looking at Wufei and turned, my elbow resting on my desk. "Yeah, about that. Wu-man said you wanted to get to know me better. I- I want to get to know you better, too. I mean, you seemed really nice and all, and Trowa and Wu like you. So…" I paused, listening to the other line. Heero was so quiet, he might have not even been there.

"So what I'm saying is do you want to have dinner with me? Tomorrow night?" I finished quickly.

Heero took a moment to answer, and for a split second, I thought he might actually not be there. Then, however, he said, "That's fine. I'll drive. Is 7:00 okay?" 

I grinned. "That sounds great. See you then, Heero." 

"See you then," Heero echoed, and hung up without saying goodbye. 

I was beaming when I replaced the phone on the hook and looked up at Wufei. He was looking at me with an eyebrow raised. 

"What?" I asked. "I thought that went well." 

"Wu-man?" was all he said. 

I grinned. "I think it suits you." 

Quatre came up behind him just then and smiled at me. "He said yes?" he inquired. 

I nodded happily. 

"Good," Quatre agreed. "I don't really have time to chat, but I wanted to see how it went and wanted to kill two birds with one stone." He turned to Wufei. "Here, Wu-man. These are for the meeting today." He smiled at both of us and waved, hurrying back to whatever he was working on. 

Wufei glared at me. "If that catches on, you'll be sorry," he promised, and turned, heading back to his own desk. 

I switched on my computer, and spent ten minutes programming it to do my work for me. I spent the rest of the day playing Tenchu and daydreaming about tomorrow night.

                                                                                ***

"Look, Wufei!" I exclaimed. When he came running, I turned my computer monitor so he could see and showed him what I had been doing, using the mouse to manipulate the image on the screen. "It's a snowglobe, and you can shake it with the mouse, and the people inside scream!" I turned up the sound, and the little people on the screen screamed in high pitched voices as I waved the image around.

Wufei frowned. "I thought it was important, Duo. Some of us here actually work." 

"I work," I said. "Anyway, you guys are lucky to have me. I have had five new job offers this week." 

"Job offers on The Sims don't count," Wufei sneered. 

I stuck out my tongue. "Like anybody works the last half hour of the day anyway."

Just then, Quatre and Trowa walked by. "Hey guys, it's Friday. I thought we could go home a few minutes early tonight," Quatre announced cheerily.

I switched off Deathscythe (that's what I named my computer) and jumped up. "Sounds good to me!" I exclaimed. 

Quatre smiled at me. "So, tonight's the big night, Duo?" 

I nodded. "I can't wait." 

"Wufei, Trowa thinks it's sweet that two of your friends are dating," Quatre said. Trowa smiled a bit and nodded. 

Wufei looked sideways at me, a half-smile on his face. "So do I, if Duo doesn't mess it up first. It's only the first date."

Quatre shook his head. "Wufei. If it's meant to be, nothing Duo can do will mess it up." 

"Don't you guys think you're getting a little ahead of yourselves?" I asked, grabbing my coat and backing out of the office. "It's just dinner. What can possibly happen over dinner?" 

                                                                                ***

The car ride to the restaurant was quiet. Normally I would have been cracking jokes the whole way, but Wufei's silly bet ran through my mind. Heero, as I'd already figured out, wasn't much of a talker. The silence started to get to me immediately, however, and so I made my first attempt at nice, benign small talk less than five minutes into the ride.

"So, ah… what restaurant are we going to?" I asked. 

"Italian," Heero replied. "Do you like Italian food?"

"Of course!" I exclaimed quickly. "Who doesn't like Italian food?" 

"Good," Heero responded, keeping his eyes on the road. Apparently he had to concentrate really hard to drive decently. If it wasn't for Wufei's dumb comments, I would have said something by now. But I was being good.

Lucky for me, the restaurant wasn't very far from my house. Heero parked in two spaces and we went inside. My date had made reservations in advance, so we were seated almost immediately. He ordered some round, crispy things for an appetizer and veal parmesan. The waiter nodded, and kept telling him how good the food was tonight. Then he asked me what I wanted. 

"Uhm… do you just have spaghetti and meatballs?" I asked. I had looked and couldn't find that, except on the kids menu. The waiter nodded stiffly and wrote that down.

"And what would you like to drink?" he asked. 

"Shirley Temple," I ordered, and grinned at the waiter. He was a very good waiter. If he thought my order was strange, he didn't show it. He only nodded and repeated my order under his breath as he wrote it down.

When we were waiting for our food, Heero decided to pick up where I'd left off in the small talk department. He picked a very good subject that I wished I'd thought of: our friends. 

"So how long have you known Trowa and Wufei?" 

I thought about that. "I'm not sure," I said after a moment. "I knew Quatre in high school. Then he went off to college and we kept in touch. He met Trowa one summer in Europe. He introduced us when they got back. Then when he graduated and took over Winner Enterprises, I met Wufei. He and Wufei had known each other for a little while before that, and I had seen him around in mutual social occasions, but I didn't really get to know him until we both started working for Quatre." I took a drink of my Shirley Temple. 

Heero nodded. "I went to college with Trowa and Wufei." 

"I know," I replied. "Apparently they mention you a lot," I added, thinking of an earlier conversation.

Heero decided not to question that last remark, although I would have if I had been him. "Where did you go to college?" he asked instead.

"No. I joined the military after high school," I said.

"So you must have had a knack with computers beforehand," he guessed. "You joined the military to work with computers and got a few degrees in the meantime. But Quatre already knew you were an expert, and would have hired you even without the formal education." He paused for a minute, thinking. "Air force?" he asked after a moment.

I nodded. "How could you tell?"

"The hair," Heero said with a straight face. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, so I laughed heartily to let him know I appreciated his sense of humor. 

His appetizer came just then, and Heero thanked the waiter. I looked at it with interest. "What is that?" I asked.

"Calamari," Heero replied. "Want to try it?"

I nodded and bit part of a crunchy circle. Inside, it was chewy and rubber-band-y and tasted like fish and told Heero so.

"Of course," Heero said. "It's squid." 

"Squid?" My eyes widened and I spit it into my napkin discreetly. I'm sure Heero didn't notice. 

Our dinner came just then, and it was plain spaghetti just like I ordered. This was one of those nice restaurants, too, with free water that you don't have to order and an extra fork in case you drop one. I like that. I told Heero, but he just snorted into his wine and covered his mouth with his napkin a moment before looking at me with those piercing blue eyes. 

"Duo, do you want to go to Dairy Queen for dessert?" he asked. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters in this story. They are owned by Bandai and several other companies, none of which I am part of.

"So then I said I love Dairy Queen, and we went and I had a banana split. Then we sat with the moon roof open and watched the stars come out while we ate our ice cream. After that, he took me home." I sighed into the phone. "It was so nice, Wu."

"Did you kiss him?" Wufei asked, sounding amused. I could imagine the little smirk on his face.

"Wipe the smirk off your face," I said sternly. "I didn't want to seem… easy, you know? Anyway, I did hug him goodnight. And he hugged me back, and told me he hoped he could see me again. So there, Wu-fei." I paused. "Don't you even want to know what kind of ice cream he got?"

"I don't need to," Wufei said, I was fairly sure he was smiling. "Heero only ever has one flavor."

"Oh."  

"Well, congratulations anyway, Duo," came the not entirely unexpected reply.

"Thank you," I started to say, but Wufei wasn't finished.

"…It sounds like you managed to botch that one pretty well." 

"What?!" I squawked. "But Wufei, he said-"

"I know," Wufei agreed. "But Duo, how often do people say they want to see their date again and then never call them back? Face it, Braid-Boy. You're still on Date One, and you can't be normal even if you try."

I opened my mouth to yell some more about how Wufei must be the worst friend ever when I got a better idea. "Hold that thought, Wu," I said sweetly. "I have a call on the other line. I'll have to see you at work on Monday. It's probably him now." With that, I hung up the receiver without saying goodbye. 

By Monday morning, however, I had decided not to let the unusually silent state of my phone bother me. Obviously I hadn't paid my phone bill. Or the phone lines had become mysteriously severed, and we didn't know yet because the phone company couldn't call us until they fixed it and then there would be no need to call us in the first place. Or-

The phone rang.

Maybe Heero was just busy. 

"He's probably just busy, Duo," Quatre echoed my thoughts when I picked up the phone. "He is an upper executive trying to negotiate a merger. I wouldn't worry about it." 

"Thanks, Quat," I grumbled. "Is that all you wanted to say? Because I could have thought of that on my own."

Quatre chuckled. "Of course not. I just wanted to see if you had the technical presentation done for the meeting today." 

I scoffed. "I've had it done for a week. And I'm not going to forget it, if that's the real reason you called." I tightened my tie. Today it was black and said "This is a tie" in colorful letters.

"I know you won't, Duo. Just like I know you wouldn't be late on such a big day for us." 

"Of course not," I agreed with a smile. "I'm never late."

***

According to the Winner Enterprises employee conduct memo, disciplinary action will be taken for anybody who arrives more than 5 minutes late without calling first. Which is why I arrive precisely 4 minutes late every day. The way I see it, if you can't get in trouble, then you aren't doing anything wrong.

The elevator arrived on the executive level, and I glided smoothly out and through the door to the office. The executive level has very smooth, shiny floors that they buff every day. It's perfect for skateboarding on. Wufei says that they wouldn't have to buff every day if I didn't do that, but they buffed every day before I started skateboarding to my desk in the mornings, and I told him that.

"Morning, Duo," Quatre said as I glided in. I tossed him the presentation disk. 

"Morning," I sang. "Want to see a new trick I learned?"  I leaned my weight on the back of the skateboard and lifted my right foot, but my work shoes mustn't be as good for skateboarding as my tennies, and the skateboard shot out from under me, almost taking out Wufei in the process. 

He ducked at the right time, but I landed on my butt. "Ow," I complained. 

"Duo!" He yelled. "You almost broke my paper weight." 

"Oh, that thing wouldn't break if you dropped it off the moon," I grumbled, picking myself up off the floor. I walked over to Wufei's desk. "Can I have my skateboard back?" 

"He's not usually like this," Wufei was saying. I started to ask him if my skateboard had missed his head when I saw who he was talking to. 

Sitting in chairs outside the conference room were a tall man with long blonde hair and the senior executive I had gone out with on Friday night.

"Morning, Duo," Heero said pleasantly. 

I started to choke out an equally pleasant greeting when Wufei, who had been starting to hand my skateboard back, made a little sound. 

"'This is a tie,' hmm?" he asked, amused. "Do you have pants that say 'These are pants,' too?" 

I snatched my skateboard out of his hands. "Funny," I snapped, and stalked back to my desk. 

"Well, now that our presentation has arrived, shall we start the meeting?" Wufei asked our guests pleasantly.

"I was only four minutes late," I grumbled as the three of them went into the conference room. 

Quatre patted my shoulder as he walked by my desk on the way to the conference room. "Try to have a good day, Duo," he said simply. He closed the door firmly behind him, as he was the last one to arrive at the meeting in the conference room. 

I stared at the stained glass in the door for a moment, then, laying my head in my hands, I glared at my skateboard. 

"If Wufei just won because of *that*, I'm donating you to a kindergarten class," I told it. 

                                                                                ***

"Ooh, Quatre, you'd better get a camera."

"Why?"

"I think Duo's actually…. working."

I decided to ignore them. Maybe they would go away. 

"What … *are* you doing, Duo?" Quatre asked after a moment.

I sighed. "Someone in Marketing got a virus and now they all have it. I'm working on a patch." 

I heard Quatre start to say something, and without looking, I held out a finger. "Don't say anything. I don't need to hear any clever witticisms about STDs." Quatre is not as innocent as he looks and has a perverted little mind when he chooses to.

"I didn't know they had patches for that," was all he said before wandering back toward his plush little office.

I heard someone else behind me, and groaned. "Wu-" I began.

"Duo, do you want a ride home?" It was Heero's voice.

I started and turned.  Heero's face was unreadable, as usual. 

I grimaced. "As much as I would love to sneak out early, it's going to take me at least a few more hours to finish this."

Heero nodded. "I need to work on something too," he said. "Tell me when you're ready." Then he walked away.

I stared incredulously into space for a few moments before getting back to work. With the new found incentive, I worked a little faster than I had expected, and managed to finish the patch, delete the viruses, and install it within a few hours. Then I logged off Deathscythe and grabbed my coat, looking at the clock. Less than an hour to go before I would have gotten off of work anyway. Oh, well. 

Heero was talking on a cell phone, but ended the call quickly when he saw me. "That was fast," he remarked. "Quatre told me what you were doing."

I grinned. "I've seen one like that before. I already had an idea what to do, and it worked on the first try."

"Hn." Heero nodded. 

There was an awkward silence as we walked to the car. 

"So," I said after a minute. "How about the weather?"

Heero looked at me strangely. "What?"

I shrugged. "It was too quiet, so I wanted to talk about something." 

"Hn," Heero said. "Duo, did you really hook up a PS2 to the teleconference center?"

I remembered the bet. "Well… sort of…" I mumbled. 

We reached the car and Heero unlocked it. "How about programming Wufei's paper shredder to play 'Bye Bye Bye' every time it shredded something?" 

I grinned. "Oh, yeah. But-" 

"Hn?"

"Heero, I don't do that stuff to be annoying or anything, or even to make Quatre look bad. I do it because it makes work more interesting." I bit my lip. 

Heero shrugged. I wondered if I had said something wrong. 

"I don't suppose you ever do anything like that," I mumbled.

"Not like that," Heero agreed. "I just messed with go-carts when the kid who was working at the go-cart place was getting someone free from the wall." 

I giggled. "I thought about that before, but I never thought of doing it then." 

Heero nodded. "It's better to do it when nobody's in line."

I thought about that. "Will you show me how to do it?"

Heero looked at me and the car swerved. I thought I was going to die. "Right now?" he asked.

"There's a go-cart place on 104th. It's only a few blocks east of where I live." 

"…With two people, we can be much more efficient," Heero said, thinking out loud. 

I smiled. "That's the idea," I agreed. And that's how Operation Mustang began.

                                                                                ***

"Do you know your part?" Heero asked again.

I nodded. "Yes. I want to watch you do it, though." 

"You'll get to if you do your part right," Heero replied. "The ride starts in thirty seconds."

I gave him the victory sign and went over to get into a car before it started. There were only five cars in line. Perfect.

The light turned to green, and the cars ahead of me went. I did a warm up lap, and then halfway through the second lap, it began. My foot on the accelerator, I slammed the fastest car into the wall, then turned the wheel so I was facing sideways and caused the best five-car pileup in the history of go-carts. 

Both attendants came over immediately to see what was wrong and untangle the cars. I snuck away over to the control panel, where Heero was playing with the timer. Then he flipped open the hood of one of the two unused cars and showed me how to raise the maximum speed. 

"Think you can do it to the other one?" he asked. I nodded, and did exactly what I'd seen him do to the other car. He unhooked the gate and we hid inside the fixed-up cars. By then the accident had been worked out, and the attendants were sending the cars back into the pit. As soon as they were all back, Heero and I were off, as fast as possible and laughing, yelling over the engines, our hair whipping in the wind. 

We only managed two laps before we were caught and banned from the park for life. But it was the most fun I'd had in a long time. And that's saying something, for me.

***Extra Scene***

This doesn't really happen, but it was requested by andrea ^^. It's at Dairy Queen.

After we got our ice cream (which I paid for, ever the nice and giving one), we sat on the curb outside to eat it. For awhile, we just sat in the semi-darkness, our backs to the restaurant, enjoying each other's company over a soft-serve frozen dessert.

"This was a good idea," I said, looking at my shoes. "I've never really been comfortable in those restaurants that give you extra forks…" 

"I could tell," Heero said, and he sounded so nice, that I had to smile back at him. Then, as my eyes met his handsome face, I giggled.

"What?" Heero asked, instantly alert.

I pointed at his face, and then shook my head. I sat up. 

"Hold on," I said, still stifling giggles. "I'll get that for you." I set down my ice cream and leaned in, swiping my tongue ever-so-delicately over the spot of ice cream on Heero's chin. I leaned back, licking my lips. "Mmm," I teased. "I think that was better than my own ice cream." 

Heero looked astonished. Then his eyes narrowed in determination, and he picked his own ice cream back up, deliberately eating a spoonful. 

"So," he said casually after a minute. "What did it taste like?" 

"Silly," I said affectionately, "Heero only has one flavor." 

"Hn," he grunted, and we leaned in for a long, slow kiss. As our lips met, I couldn't help but think that this was better than ice cream any day.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters in this story. They are owned by Bandai and several other companies, none of which I am part of. 

Warning: happy love-fluff

"And never come back!" The guy yelled after us as we walked back to Heero's car. 

I giggled. "That was fun, and they even took our pictures! Too bad they wouldn't let me keep a copy…"

Heero looked at me. He wasn't quite smiling, but his blue eyes were sparkling in such a way that the effect was the same.  He looked like he was about to say something, but then changed his mind and turned away. "Maybe we can do this again," he said quietly. 

My eyes were sparking at that time too, I am sure, and stayed that way through the entire car ride home. "We can!" I exclaimed. I had never been so happy. 

We got in the car then and started back for home. Conversation was sparse, as usual, but I didn't mind. By this point, just being next to him was enough for me. I hoped he felt the same way. 

It was all over much too soon, of course. Heero's car pulled into the parking lot of my apartment building, and it was time to go. He locked the car and walked me all they way to my door. I pulled out my keys and began playing with them, running my thumb back and forth along the ridges of my house key. I didn't look at Heero. 

"Duo," he said. 

Now I looked up and into his eyes. "I'm sorry, Heero," I apologized quietly and with a small smile at my own foolishness.  "I want to go in. I do. It's just that… I really had fun with you today. I don't want it to end…." I trailed off, wincing at how silly that had sounded. I bet Heero thought I was about fifteen years old.

Heero had been watching me fumble with my keys. He reached out then, and covered my hand with his own. He looked into my eyes, and all he said was, "It won't." Then he leaned in and pressed his lips gently to mine. I melted into the chaste kiss, and when we broke apart, he was almost smiling. He brushed my bangs to the side with one hand, his other still holding my own and said, "Good night, Duo." 

After that, he was gone, but the warmth remained. I went inside and collapsed on the couch, looking around at how nice my apartment seemed suddenly. I glanced at the phone on the end table next to me, and, picking up the receiver, dialed Wufei's number. 

"I think I'm in love, Wu," I said when he answered. 

                                                                                ***

"Of course, you realize you still haven't won, Duo," he informed me the next morning at work. My tie was black with pink flamingoes on it. 

"What?" I complained. "Wufei, you said all I needed was to have two dates." 

"Right," Wufei agreed, "and so far you've been on one. Last night, as magical as it might have been, doesn't count. He offered to drive you home. For all you know, he does that to be nice. After all, you guys do live in the same direction from here." 

I frowned, and began coming up with plans in my head to switch his paper weight with a frog, when something occurred to me. I looked at Wufei, and smiled.

"Wufei. You're right," I said. "He was just driving me home, this time. But this is just the beginning, Wu. There's time for second dates, and third, and fourth, because it never has to end." I smiled, remembering the feeling of his hand on mine, and his fingers brushing against my forehead.  "Heero told me that," I added fondly. 

                                                                                ***

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Duo, what are you doing?"

I paused, but didn't look at Quatre. "I'm banging my head on the desk." I told him, stating the obvious, and then went back to what I had been doing before the interruption. 

"Well… are those upgrades done?" he asked doubtfully. 

"Yes." 

"Okay," he replied, and walked away. 

I sat up. "Don't you even want to know what's wrong?" I called after him. 

"Of course," he replied, smiling sweetly. He hadn't really gone very far. I think he knows too much for his own good. 

"It's been a week, and Heero has driven me home every day," I began.

"Yes," Quatre agreed. "It's very nice of him. It's nice to have a quiet car ride home with Trowa every now and then." He glanced at me. "So why the head injuries?"

"Every time I suggest that we go out this weekend or anything that Wufei would qualify as a *date,* he ignores me." I sighed. 

"Maybe that's because he doesn't *want* to date you, Duo," Wufei chimed in. I hadn't noticed he was listening, but now I scowled. 

"Who asked you?" I demanded. 

Wufei shrugged. "Maybe he just wants to be friends. No offense Duo," he added, smiling slightly, "You're nice as a friend, but I wouldn't date you either."

"Good," I shot back, "because I wasn't asking you out!" 

"Heero will be happy to hear that," Quatre put in helpfully. 

"Maybe," Wufei added. "Maybe not." 

"What will I be happy to hear?" Heero asked quietly from the doorway.

"I can just imagine him jumping for joy," Wufei continued sarcastically, with a wink in Heero's direction as he made his way back to his desk.

I stuck out my tongue and grabbed my jacket. Heero didn't look confused, but he didn't look anything else either, so I whispered "Never mind," as I passed by him on the way out the door. Behind me I could hear Wufei complaining to Quatre about how I've been leaving at 4:00 all week. I didn't hear Quatre's response clearly, but I think he said "I think it's sweet." 

"So what are we going to do today?" I asked cheerfully as we got in the elevator and I pressed the button for the parking level Heero always parked on. "Hijack an ambulance and drive through town with the lights on? Hack into the CIA computers and leave extensive files on alien life forms living in Texas?"

Heero didn't say anything. I turned to look at him. "Well?" I asked impatiently. 

The elevator dinged and the door opened. Heero's eyes flickered to mine for a moment just before we went out into the parking garage. 

"No," he said. 

"No?!" I exclaimed. "What kind of an answer is that? It wasn't a yes or no question, you know."

"Hn," he grunted, and facing forward, continued walking to his car. 

"You're being more exasperating than usual today," I grumbled, and broke into a sort of trot in an attempt to keep up with Heero's fast stride. 

Heero didn't make any noises at all until about five minutes into the car ride. "I was thinking we'd just … be together," he said at long last. 

I looked at him in surprise. "But Heero… we've spent time together every evening this week." 

"Not like this," he disagreed. 

I didn't bother asking any more questions. I figured I'd find out soon enough what he meant.

Sure enough, we eventually pulled up in front of a tall building. I looked over at Heero, eyes wide. "Isn't this where you're staying?" I asked.

"Hn," he agreed, and opened his car door. I felt a momentary surge of pride at the fact I was learning to read Heero's little grunts, and then had to scramble out of the car to catch up with him. 

To my surprise, he didn't go in the building. Instead, he led me up the fire escape, until we reached the top of the building that towered over every other building in the city. The sky was bleeding shades of orange, red, and yellow into the darkening blues of twilight. Streetlamps and houses added their own beauty one at a time as the sky slowly grew too dark for the human eye to see comfortably, winking into existence in twos and threes on the ground far below us. The view was breathtaking. 

"It's… beautiful," I gasped at last, glancing at Heero as soon as I could tear my eyes away from the view. He was looking at me with an expression I hadn't seen before. He held out his hand, and as I took it, he pulled me close and wrapped his arms around me, just holding me as we watched night fall slowly across the city. Only after it was completely dark did he reluctantly drive me home. 

That night, I dreamed about Heero. I don't remember exactly what it was about, but I woke up with a start in the middle of the night, a cold feeling of dread creeping all through my body and making me shiver. I reached for the phone and called Quatre, completely oblivious to the ungodly hour at which I was calling. 

"Where did he go?" I asked, not even thinking about the words that came pouring out of my mouth. 

Quatre didn't answer right away. For a moment, I thought Trowa had picked up the phone instead. Then he exhaled and said in a voice filled with sympathy, "I'm sorry, Duo. The business deal is over."

"What?" I choked.

"His flight left an hour ago," Quatre continued apologetically, "He went back to Japan." 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters in this story. They are owned by Bandai and several other companies, none of which I am part of.

Warnings: Angst, Quatre being (not very) subtle, and Duo in his underwear

"His flight left an hour ago," Quatre continued apologetically, "He went back to Japan."

"Why?" I asked, not comprehending immediately. 

"Duo," my best friend said quietly. "You knew he was only here to negotiate the merger with Winner Enterprises. The final meeting was Wednesday morning." He was quiet a moment. "I'm sorry, Duo. I thought you knew." 

My heart felt like it was tearing in a million pieces. "I- think I love him, Quatre," I managed shakily, tears in my voice. 

"I know," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. "Believe me, I do." 

                                                                                ***

I finally gave up on sleep around 4:30am. Luckily, I didn't have work that day. I sat in front of the TV wearing Spongebob Squarepants boxer shorts and a black t-shirt that said "You're village called. They want their idiot back," flipping channels and working my way through a half-gallon of cookie dough ice cream. 

At about 6pm, Wufei came over, forced me to get dressed, and dragged me out to a movie.  I slept through it. Wu grumbled about it afterward, but somehow he didn't seem to mind that he wasted $8.50 for me to sleep in the theatre. 

I managed to get to sleep for real around 6am and slept the whole day. When I woke up late that day, there were two messages on my answering machine from Quatre asking if I was okay. I deleted them both without calling him back. Of course I was okay.

                                                                                ***

"Duo, what are you doing?" Quatre asked groggily. It was 2am, and I was going through his refrigerator. I glanced over my shoulder at him. He was standing there in what could only be described as a manly nightgown. I think they used to call them nightshirts in the old days, but it was definitely more like a dress than a shirt. Next to him stood an equally-tired Trowa in pajamas. 

"It's 2am," Quatre added pointedly.

I looked at my watch. "Yup," I agreed. "You know, Quatre, you're out of chocolate syrup." 

"What makes you think I keep it in the kitchen?" 

I looked at Quatre, who looked much less tired now. "Never mind," I said quickly. 

"Duo. What are you doing in my house at 2am?" he asked again, baring his teeth like a barracuda.

"I ran out of ice cream." I shrugged. 

"You ran out of ice cream," he repeated, nodding. "How did you get past the security system?" 

"I disconnected the cameras and programmed the monitors to show a loop of the last half hour. Also, the motion detectors won't notice anything smaller than a semi right now." At Quatre's look, I added, "I'll change it back before I go home!" 

Quatre nodded again. "I know you will."  Then he walked toward me, slowly, and reached out his hand. I flinched, but all he did was touch my shoulder lightly. "Duo. I know your heart is broken, but you have been pouting nonstop since Friday night. When you show up for work this morning, you will be functioning on the level of a normal human being. Understand?" 

At my sheepish nod, his voice softened. "Duo, I know how you're feeling, and I'm sorry. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know, okay?" He stepped forward and embraced me, and I rested my head on his shoulder, glad to have a friend who cared about me as much as Quatre did. But I knew that Quatre (or Wufei and Trowa, for that matter) could never completely fill the hole that Heero had left in my heart. 

                                                                                ***

That morning, I showed up for work exactly four minutes late wearing a black tie with brightly-colored tropical fish swimming all over it. Quatre was right, as usual. The sooner I got back into my usual routine, the better off I would be. I played Tetris indifferently most of the day, since I didn't really feel like doing anything else. When Quatre asked me to do some upgrades, I was glad to have something to take my mind off of how I was feeling. 

"You know, Quatre and I called off the bet," Wufei sighed behind me after lunch. He had been standing behind me for quite some time, and I was wondering if he was going to say something or not. 

"Why?" I asked, pretending to concentrate on my work. "You won."

"It wasn't a fair bet, though. We shouldn't use your love life as a source of entertainment in the workplace."

I turned then and stared Wufei down. "Making an apology because Quatre made you is bad enough. You don't have to quote the memo word for word." 

Wufei shrugged. "He was right, though," he said softly. 

"No, you were right," I argued. "Heero just saw me as a friend. If that. I was stupid to think he l-" I broke off and started coughing. I didn't want to say anything to Wufei about that. 

Wufei shook his head. He looked like he wanted to call me a moron and tell me I was wrong, but he just turned away. "Forget it," he mumbled, and went back to whatever he was supposed to be doing. 

Surprisingly, Quatre didn't try to have a heartfelt talk with me that day, or even the next. He just gave me space and enough to do to keep my mind off of Heero. After Monday, Wu didn't try to talk to me either. He did, however, keep coming up to me, starting to say something, and changing his mind. 

The funny thing about the whole week, though, wasn't that Quatre and Wufei were treating me like I was about to break at any minute. It was that I half believed it myself. Every day that went by, I missed Heero more and more. I found myself missing the weirdest things about him—the way he grunted when he didn't have anything to say; the way his eyes looked at me when I said something he didn't expect; the way his hair looked so soft, I just wanted to run my fingers through it; and the way his lips felt, so soft against mine…

From there, though, my thoughts would invariably circle around to our last night together. It hadn't felt like he just wanted to be friends. But—if he loved me—why couldn't he tell me he was leaving? Why wouldn't he have given us the chance to make it work? 

Why couldn't I let him go after only a little over a week together? 

That was the part I didn't get. The following Monday, I had known him for only a slightly longer time as had passed since he went back to Japan, and if anything, it hurt more than when I first found out he was gone. 

I was in the employee cafeteria downstairs picking at my food when Trowa, of all people, slid into the booth across from me. 

"Hi," Trowa," I said, looking up from my plate. Quatre's tall, silent counterpart was the last person I expected to find me down here. I mean, I liked Trowa. It was just that, usually, I only saw him with Quatre. 

Trowa just studied me for a few moments after he sat down. It was a little unsettling, and I kept looking at him to see if he was still staring at me. He was. 

I was getting ready to ask him if he was going to eat, or just sit there when he spoke. 

"Heero and I are a lot alike," he said. 

I almost choked to hear him speak. It didn't happen very often. "What?" I asked, more on reflex than because I hadn't heard what he had said. I heard him perfectly. 

"I know him pretty well, because the two of us are a lot alike," he said again. "Heero's always been so driven, though, and he doesn't let people get close to him. He doesn't spend time with people he doesn't like unless he has to for work. People he doesn't like, he ignores, or avoids, or threatens."

"Oh," I said, because I didn't know what else to say.

Trowa wasn't finished, though. "Duo, I've known Heero for a long time. He was my roommate in college. You knew he was in the military before college, didn't you?" he asked. 

I shook my head. "He didn't tell me that," 

Trowa shrugged. "I'm sure he was going to. He was a year behind us in class because of that. I think he always planned to go back, but he got roped into working for the Peacecraft Group after college. Which Quatre just bought out, as you know."

"Why are you telling me this?" I couldn't believe that Trowa was making small talk about Heero. He usually only spoke when he had something important to say, or when he couldn't avoid it. 

"Because you should know about him if you love him," was Trowa's simple reply. "Duo, you're worried because Heero didn't say goodbye. You should have already noticed he never says goodbye, not even when he hangs up the phone."

I nodded slowly. "You're right," I admitted after a moment. 

"You said he told you it never had to end," he continued. "What if he doesn't want it to end, either? Maybe he thinks that if he says goodbye, it would be over. This way, there's always the hope that he will see you again." 

"Well, he could have at least left his phone number," I grumbled. 

Trowa's expression turned wry. "Heero's not exactly practiced at this. Anyway, I think he cares more for you than he was prepared for, or maybe even realizes. He was open with you faster than with anybody else I've seen. You make him loosen up a bit. Heero never knew what it was like to be young, or irresponsible. Also the two of you work really well together. Like when you souped up the go-carts."

"I didn't-" I began. My head was spinning.

"Everybody knows," Trowa assured me. "Quatre thought it was quite funny. But that's not what I came here to talk about. You haven't been yourself since Heero left. You look like you lost something you didn't even know you had. I just wanted to tell you not to give up hope. You'll see him again." 

"Did Trowa talk your ear off, Duo?" a sunny voice came from my right. Both Trowa and I turned to see Quatre standing there, looking cheerful as ever, his hands in the pockets of his pants. Trowa got up and went over to stand by our little blonde boss. Quatre took one of his hands out of its pocket to link with one of Trowa's.  

I grinned. "Man, Quat, that boy of yours sure can talk. Usually I never hear him speak." 

Quatre favored Trowa with a fond smile. "He's quiet, but once you get him started, he doesn't shut up," he agreed. "You should have heard him last night." 

I started coughing, and glared up at him. "You love doing that, don't you?" 

My best friend only grinned sweetly at me and squeezed my shoulder. "Come up when you're done, okay?" 

"Okay," I agreed, and then thought of something. "Why do you suddenly need so many upgrades?" 

Quat shrugged. "Might as well get the latest programs while helping my best friend in his endeavors not to think." 

"Ah." Quatre definitely knows too much. 

"You'll be okay, Duo," he told me encouragingly.  "See you upstairs?" At my nod, he waved a bit and pulled Trowa along with him as he headed out of the cafeteria. Trowa had reverted back into silent mode, it seemed, but he gave me a little wink before allowing Quatre to pull him away. 

"I'll see him again," I whispered to my lunch, echoing Trowa's words. I was almost afraid to believe that what he said might be true, but I was willing to hold on a little longer.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters in this story. They are owned by Bandai and several other companies, none of which I am part of.

At long last the upgrades were over. Quat no longer had anything for me to do, so I spent one morning shooting rubber bands in the general direction of Wufei's desk. 10 points if I hit the paper weight. 25 points if I hit Wufei. 100 points if I hit the paper weight into the shredder. So far I had hit the paper weight six times and Wufei three. 135 points total. 

Then Quatre went over to Wufei's desk and sent him somewhere, Without Wufei there, keeping points wasn't as much fun, so I pulled up a design program on my computer and began coming up with a design for a rubber band gun that would shoot rubber bands at the exact right velocity to knock the paper weight into the shredder. 

I was trying to calculate the mass of the paper weight in my head when Quatre came over to my desk. 

"Duo," he said, "We've got a meeting in the conference room." 

"Mmmkay," I mumbled, and put a figure into the computer. Then I thought of something. Didn't Wufei say it was crystal, not glass? How much different would crystal be?

"You have to be there, Duo," Quatre tried again. 

 Was there even a difference? What if crystal is just another name for glass, designed to make it sound better and-

"Wait, why?" I asked, suddenly realizing what Quatre had said.

"Because," he replied, "It's about your department."

"Oh," I conceded. "Wait, I have a department? Since when?" 

"Remember that piece of paper I had you sign when I gave you this job?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah…" 

"Did you read it?" my boss asked slowly. 

I thought about it, and shook my head. "No. It was boring and didn't have any pictures." 

He shrugged, as though he expected as much. "But what were you doing when I was explaining it to you?" he continued. 

Once again, I had to think about it before answering. "Oh!" I exclaimed at last. "That's the day I beat my high score in Tetris!" 

My blonde best friend put his hand on my head. "Listen. You have a department. We have a meeting today because we're expanding your department and you have to be there." 

"Oh." I understood now. "I get to be in the conference room? And sit in a rolly chair?" 

Quatre nodded. 

"Will there be food?" I asked excitedly. Wufei told me about one time they had food. 

My boss laughed. "No, Duo, but afterward, I'll take you out to lunch, okay?" 

I nodded. "Okay. When is it?" 

Quat looked at his watch. "We should start within the next fifteen minutes." 

"Oh." I saved my design and logged off. I stood up. "I'm ready, I guess," I said slowly, looking down at my clothes. "If I knew I had a meeting, I probably would have worn a tie." 

"That's okay, Duo," Quatre laughed. "Really." He ushered me to the conference room and had me sit in one of the chairs on the same side of the table as the door, near the projector.  Trowa was already seated, across and kind of to the side of where Quatre had me sitting. He nodded hello, but made no other indication that we had actually had a conversation recently. 

After seeing me to my seat, Quat went to the front of the room and cleared his throat. 

I looked around. Other than Quatre and me, Trowa was the only other person in the room. "Who are we waiting for?" I asked. 

"A few others, but we have to start before they get here," Quatre told me cheerfully. "This addition is only to the executive branch of your department."

"But why do we have to start before they get here?" I persisted, still confused. 

"They already know the part I'm going to tell you now," my boss explained patiently. "Now, do you have any more questions, or can I start?" 

Folding my hands on top of the table, I looked at him, hoping I looked the picture of calm businessperson. "Go ahead," I told him.   

Quatre smiled and nodded at Trowa, who started a PowerPoint presentation on the projector. I was impressed. Not that I hadn't seen Quatre do a presentation before, but you kind of forget every now and then how together that guy is.

"We are here today to announce the expansion of the programming department," Quatre began. "Recently we have successfully completed a merger with the Peacecraft group, and in that merger, received another branch office in Japan." 

I thought Quatre looked a bit smug when he said that thing about taking over the Peacecraft Group, like a cat that had just eaten a family of baby mice, but I also didn't think anyone who didn't know him well would notice. Then again, maybe I hadn't really seen that expression and was just making things up. 

"The condition brought forth by Miss Peacecraft was that all of the current Japanese employees had to remain on the payroll," Quatre continued. "Now your department has expanded considerably, Duo, but all of the employees under you have supervisors, as usual, so your roll won't change much." 

"Okay," I said slowly. "So what am I here for then?" 

Quatre grinned and nodded at Trowa to change the slide. It was yet another graph. 

"We also have inherited one of the best computer programmers in the world. After you, of course," he added quickly before I could say anything. "And this is where you come in, Duo, because we are expanding your department on the executive level as well. We're giving you a partner of sorts." 

I told my hopes not to go up too much. 

I turned to look. Wufei was coming through the door. I frowned. "Wufei's my new partner? I thought he already had a department. With actual people."   
Wufei snorted. "How long did it take you to cover my desk in rubber bands, Duo?" 

I shrugged. "Once you left, there wasn't anything for them to bounce off of," I explained. 

"Hn," someone grunted. My ears perked up. 

"Wufei, I believe you're blocking the view of my new employee," Quatre observed gently. 

Wufei made a face and stepped to the side. Behind him was…

"Heero!" I exclaimed. He glanced at me, a flicker of blue eyes in my direction, but he turned his gaze back to Quatre as though it had never been elsewhere. 

My boss cleared his throat gracefully and the rest of us turned our attention back on him. 

"If there are no questions, I believe Wufei and I have a business transaction that should be completed while the banks are still open," he said in his sweet voice. "Come on, Trowa, I'll buy you an ice cream cone." 

Trowa winked at me before following Quatre to the door. Wufei simply stood there for a moment, figuring out what business transaction he had to complete. 

"Hey, wait!" he called when Quatre and Trowa were halfway to the door. "Quatre, I called off the bet, remember?" 

Quatre turned and smiled brilliantly. "But Wufei, that's when you thought you had lost. Now I have won, and I have no intention of calling off the bet." He turned and walked the rest of the way out the door. 

"But- wait, you haven't won yet! I have no intention of paying until their second date is over!" I could hear Wufei all the way into the hall.   
When the glass door clicked shut, Heero turned his stoic gaze on me. "Hello again," he said.

For a moment, all I could do was stare. "You came back," I managed. 

"Baka," Heero said affectionately. "I told you it wouldn't end." 

"Um," I bit my lip. "About what Wufei and Quatre were talking about," I began. 

"They made a bet that you couldn't get a second date," Heero finished for me. 

"How did you-" 

"Trowa told me," Heero replied. 

It occurred to me that Trowa and Quatre would be a dangerous team to have as enemies. "Wait, but aren't you mad?" I asked. 

Heero gave me a strange look. "Why would I be?" 

"Because… I wasn't being myself. I was lying about my personality so you wouldn't see my faults, and ask me out again…" The look on Heero's face made me shut up. 

"You could never be anyone other than who you are," Heero told me. "Immature, irresponsible, loud, rebellious, annoying Duo." With every word, he took one step closer to me. By the time he finished, he was standing right in front of me. He looked like he was enjoying insulting me. 

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I grumbled. 

"Duo. Look at me," Heero commanded. He was a couple of inches shorter than me, but since I was looking at the ground, I had to raise my gaze to meet his startlingly blue eyes. 

"I don't love you in spite of your faults," he said quietly, "I love you because of them—because they make you who you are." With that, he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine.

I jumped back. "Heero! We're at work!" I protested. "Not even Quatre and Trowa kiss at work." 

"Baka. Why do you think they closed the door?" 

I had to admit that was a good point, and this time when Heero kissed me, I met his lips halfway in a kiss I knew was only the beginning. 

                                                                                ***

"Duo," came Quatre's voice from somewhere to my right. 

I broke the kiss, confused, and looked around. I hadn't seen Quatre come back in. 

"Duo," he said again. He put his hand on my arm and was shaking me. 

Oh, no, I thought, and slipped into darkness. 


	7. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters in this story. They are owned by Bandai and several other companies, none of which I am part of.

A sudden feeling of dread came over me, and thoughts rushed through my head at a million miles per second. It was only a dream! Heero hadn't come back after all, and Quatre was here waking me up for work because I had slept through my alarm clock *again*. I put my hand over my eyes and moaned. 

"Duo, you said you wouldn't fall asleep this time," Quatre said, obviously annoyed. I opened my eyes and sat up. I was in the living room on the couch next to Quatre. There was popcorn spilled on the floor by my feet, and the television was playing credits and a song that I recognized from a toothpaste commercial. 

"I had the weirdest dream, Quatre," I yawned, stretching my arms over my head.

"You weren't even supposed to be sleeping," he complained. 

"Well, it's not my fault your girl movies are boring," I informed him. "If they want people to stay awake, they should have something blow up every now and then, or the occasional car chase scene. You know." 

Quatre shook his head and crawled off the couch to eject the movie. "Tell me about your dream, Duo," he gave up. 

So while he put the movie away and started to claen up the popcorn, I told him. When I finished, he was laughing so hard, he was wiping tears from his eyes. 

"What?" I asked. 

"Duo, you just explained the plot of the movie we just watched," he gasped, holding his stomach. "Minus the go-carts, the video games, and the cast, of course." He shook his head, still shaking with helpless laughter. "I like your version better, though."  

"Really?" I got off the couch and, picking up the movie Quatre had just put away, started to play it again. 

"Oh, so now you want to watch it." 

"No, I don't," I disagreed. "It's an academic comparison." As I waited for the movie to start, I looked over my shoulder at Quatre. "Hey, Quat, when are the other guys supposed to be back?" 

He was sitting on the arm of the couch, holding the bowl of popcorn. "They said around eleven," he replied, and leaned back to try to see the clock in the kitchen. "It's only fifteen after." 

"They're not that late, then," I sighed, and rested my head on my knee. "I wish I could have gone with them."

The movie credits were starting when I heard the door click. I jumped to my feet. "They're home!" I exclaimed. As soon as Heero came through the door in his Preventer's uniform, I threw my arms around him. "I'm so glad you're back!"  

"It's just like having a dog," Wufei remarked, coming in last and closing the door. Trowa had gone over to the couch and was sitting next to Quatre, whose blonde head was resting on Trowa's shoulder. 

Heero tolerated being smothered for a few seconds before prying himself free and setting his bag by the coat closet. "What's wrong with you?" he asked, looking at me with suspicion.

"I had a dream about you," I said, and told him the whole thing, just as I had told Quatre. I don't think Heero understood most of it, but by the end he was looking at me like he thought I was a little crazy. 

"Only a baka like you would believe that," he said, and shook his head. 

"What do you mean?" I asked. 

"I don't love you because of your faults," Heero told me, and, walked past me to join the others in the living room. 

"Wait! Then why do you love me?" I persisted, following him. He sat on the floor and I sat in front of him. 

"I love you because I can't not love you," he said. "Now shut up and watch the movie." 

After a moment of thought, I decided that was a good answer and moved out of Heero's way so he could see the TV too. Tonight, he even let me put my head on his shoulder while we watched the movie. 

When it ended, I was the only one still awake. 

* * *

Thanks for all your support in my first GW fic ever! You guys really encouraged me to finish it, and I appreciate all of your comments. I hope you liked the ending ^^. 

-Yukari Hoshiodori

stardance_ktreva@msn.com


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